Prologue in Sermons: May 28

To Simple Folk

May 28

(A discourse about the shoemaker whom the emperor’s scribe found at midnight praying in the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos in Chalkoprateia.)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

To you, simple folk, our word shall be addressed, and this is what we shall say to you. In order to turn you away from the thought that one can be saved only in a monastery or in some desert, today we propose that you listen to an incident which happened to a certain inhabitant of Constantinople.

“One night,” he says, “I went to church to pray. At midnight I saw near it a man who, standing at the church doors, prayed for a long time and with tears. Then the church doors opened before him by themselves, and he entered in. After praying fervently in the church, he came out, and the church doors again closed behind him by themselves. Marveling at this vision, I followed him and learned where he lived.

A few days later I visited him and said: ‘On Friday I saw you praying in church, and I saw that the church doors both opened and closed before you by themselves; therefore I have come to you so that you might reveal to me your virtues, that I may learn to imitate them and through you obtain forgiveness of sins.’

Two Miracles of Saint John the Russian Recounted from an Encyclical Issued in 1978

 

Metropolitan Chrysostomos I of Chalkis standing over the sacred relic of St. John the Russian

Metropolitan Chrysostomos I of Chalkis, in his encyclical no. 1609/17-11-1978 addressed to the most reverend parish priests and the pious Christians of the Holy Metropolis, made known the following two miracles of Saint John the Russian.

1) “... Last winter, a Greek ship in the North Sea, heavily loaded with cargo, was sailing toward a port in the Low Countries. In the middle of the sea they were struck by a terrible cyclone. The radar stopped functioning. At any moment the ship was about to sink. The captain, an experienced sailor, saw clearly that there was truly no hope of salvation.

Someone had once told him that there exists an incorrupt saint, Saint John the Russian is his name, who grants whatever one asks of him with faith. The captain remembered this, and amid the storm of destruction he prayed to the Saint John unknown to him and said to him:

‘Great Saint of God, whom I have never known, tonight I pray to you, not to save myself, though I am the captain, not for the ship that costs millions, but I pray for these suffering sailors who left their homeland in order to support their poor families and who at this moment are drowning. Come, Saint of God, and hold the ship fast so that it may not be lost in the depths of the sea.’

Homily on the Ascension of the Lord (Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia)

Homily on the Ascension of the Lord 

By Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki

(Delivered in 2024)

“You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world”
(from the Apolytikion of the feast)

The event of the Ascension, although it constituted the end of the Lord’s presence on earth, in essence constitutes the beginning of the reality of the Church and of the grace of God within the souls of the faithful. Let us carry our minds a little beyond the historical event, to that place where the soul is truly refreshed, where reality truly endures, where it never ends and always leaves its deep imprint within our soul, becoming the true celebration and the genuine feast.

After the Resurrection, the Lord takes the disciples and begins to initiate them into the mystery of the Resurrection, to reveal Himself to them and gradually to draw them into dialogue with Himself as the Risen One. And while only a few days earlier their senses had perceived the Cross and the confirmed death, He begins to open their minds and to appear to them, as the Evangelist says, “in another form” (Mark 16:12). After thoroughly assuring them through proofs of the truth of His Resurrection, He gradually leads them outside Jerusalem, to the Mount of Olives. There He begins to ascend into heaven, giving them His blessing, separating Himself from them, while they, astonished, behold the now final visible separation from the Lord. Two angels say to them: “Do not be amazed; He who now blesses you and ascends into heaven is not merely the risen teacher, but the true Christ, God Himself.”

The First Ecumenical Synod: Description and Significance (St. Nektarios of Aegina)

The First Ecumenical Synod: Description and Significance

By St. Nektarios, Metropolitan of Pentapolis

Arius

Arius was born in Libya around the middle of the third century A.D. He studied in Alexandria and became a follower of Origen, of Meletius, and of Lucian the Presbyter, head of the Antiochian School. His broad education, his philosophical training, and his skill in the knowledge of the divine Scriptures made him very well known, while his grave appearance, his somewhat proud manners, his imposing stature, and his handsome countenance inspired in all respect and sympathy. At first, after leaving Meletius, he was ordained deacon of the Church of Alexandria by its Bishop Peter.

From this period already there appears the strength of his character and his persistence in his convictions. Later, when Peter of Alexandria denounced the associates of Meletius and did not accept their baptism, Arius rose up for the first time, reproaching what had been done and protesting against this measure of his Bishop. Consequently, he was expelled from Alexandria. But afterwards, when the mild-mannered Achillas succeeded the deceased Peter, Arius, having asked forgiveness, was received back into the Church, and in the year 312 was ordained Presbyter.

Synaxarion of Venerable John the Russian and the New Confessor

Synaxarion

By Monk Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis

On the twenty-seventh day of the same month [May], we commemorate the Venerable John the Russian, the New Confessor, whose divine relic, having been brought from Asia Minor, is preserved incorrupt in New Prokopi on the island of Euboea.

Verses

The captive appeared full of graces,
Having taken captive the ruler of darkness.
On the twenty-seventh John was taken from here unto God.

This man lived in the eighteenth century, having been born in a certain village of what is called Little Russia, from pious parents, by whom he was raised in a God-loving manner in piety and honorable morals. Having reached manhood, he entered military service during the reign in Russia of Peter the Great, who, having undertaken war against the Turks, was defeated, and very many of the soldiers became captives to the neighboring Tatars, among whom was also John. Having been sold to a certain Ottoman cavalry commander, he was led by him to a certain town whose name was Prokopion, situated a day’s journey from Caesarea in Cappadocia.

Venerable John the Russian in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Russia may boast of its remarkable offspring, Saint John; Asia Minor may exalt because in its land the holiness of the Venerable Father was manifested; New Prokopi on the island of Euboea may shine radiantly because there his grace-flowing relic came to rest; yet all the faithful throughout the whole earth celebrate the great Venerable New Confessor. And this is because our saints are the boast and blessing of all the Orthodox everywhere on earth. A saint, that is, may have been “bound” to a certain place while he lived in this life, yet in the end he belongs to the whole Church, which means that every believer can regard the saint as his own, can have him as friend and protector, brother and father. The good Hymnographer of the Venerable one, the sacred teacher Joseph from Kermeira of Cappadocia, repeatedly comes and emphasizes this truth to us through his service:

“Rejoice, most excellent offspring of Russia and honored praise of all the faithful without exception” (Lity).

“Your homeland Russia boasts of your swaddling clothes, while the Asiatic land rejoices in your holy relic” (Second Apolytikion).

Yet: “Come then, all you Orthodox, let us celebrate his divine memory” (Doxastikon of the Lity).

Prologue in Sermons: May 27

From Unrighteous Wealth You Will Not Be Happy

May 27

(A discourse of Saint John Chrysostom concerning those who take garments from orphans.)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

People driven by greed do not distinguish whether the means by which they increase their wealth are sinful or not. Their only goal is to obtain money, and everything else means nothing to them. And because of this, orphans are often left hungry because of them, widows suffer distress, and debtors robbed by them weep. Yet the hard-hearted rich pay no attention to this and continue their work. What do you think, brethren? Will all the evil that greedy men do pass without punishment or not? Will the Lord require from them the tears of the unfortunate, or will He not require them? How should we look upon this?

Discourse on the Venerable 318 God-Bearing Fathers and on Constantine the Most Pious Emperor (Gregory the Presbyter of Caesarea)

Discourse on the Venerable 318 God-Bearing Fathers and on Constantine the Most Pious Emperor 

By Gregory the Presbyter of Caesarea in Cappadocia*

Having been permitted by the apostolic exhortation to obey those who rule, O lover of God, and, as it were, having forgotten my own weakness, and having overlooked the lack of elegance in my discourse, I submitted myself to the honored Father, who was proposing to me that I should write briefly concerning the gathering at Nicaea of the holy three hundred and eighteen Fathers, and that I should present it also to the most holy Church in Nicaea under his care; so that the narratives might preserve in written form both the spiritual struggle of those whose bodily presence it had enjoyed. And indeed, the things spoken by me according to my own ability, in comparison with the surpassing greatness of the virtuous conduct of the Fathers, I would say resemble the smallness of dew contending against ocean waves; but of his perfection it would be fitting not to direct the mind toward the grandeur of the words, but rather to measure the zeal of sympathy by the eagerness of obedience.

When Maximian and Licinius and Maxentius had ruled impiously in Rome, and had subjected to tortures and death many who refused to sacrifice to demons and abandon the faith of the Christians, and had themselves found in the destruction of their lives a fitting reward for their madness toward idols, then wondrously from the regions of the West there arose, like the morning star, Constantine the most Christ-loving, the leader of orthodox rule and the champion of the spotless faith; who, at the same time that he transferred the imperial scepters from the West to the East, had his soul illumined by the divine light. And having anointed his mind with piety, he entered first into contest against the devil; and he established everywhere decrees granting freedom to Christians; he dissolved the dejection that had fallen upon the faithful from the lawless; he cast down the revered objects of the idols; he triumphed over the nonexistence of falsehood; he made manifest the proclamation of the truth; he bestowed honor and boldness upon those who honored the Lord; the bodies of the faithful, injured by scourges, were restored, while those devoted to demons were subjected to torture and exile. And it was possible to behold both the recall of the faithful from persecution and the recovery of those from demonic delusion, resembling an angelic choir, while all with boldness glorified the Lord.

Homily Two on the Ascension of the Lord (St. Sergius Mechev)

 

Homily Two on the Ascension of the Lord 

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev

“Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with a voice of rejoicing.”

Today the Holy Church calls us to gladness and joy. But wherein does this joy consist, and why should we rejoice?

Today we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ from earth to heaven. Today the Lord has ascended, and therefore “all you nations clap your hands, for the Lord has ascended to where He was before” (Sticheron at “Lord, I have cried,” 1st).

If the Lord had not ascended into heaven, but had continued to remain on earth, then this great joy would not exist, because then the work of our salvation, for which the Lord came down to earth, would not have been completed. Therefore we must rejoice today, because the Lord ascended bodily into heaven. The Lord descended from heaven in order to restore human nature, fallen into corruption, “to raise it up and glorify it together with Himself” (Canon 1, Ode 3) — to bring it back to its former state, truly making us gods by grace. For “the Word of God became man so that we might become deified” (Saint Athanasios the Great, On the Incarnation of the Word, ch. 59).